Step 2 Part 2.1, Difficult History

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Step 2 Part 2.1, Difficult History

Secret protocols brought to light by singing: Baltic way

Secret protocols brought to light by singing: Baltic way

The Baltic Way was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred in August 1989 in the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The protest was designed to draw attention to the desire for independence from the Soviet Union of each of the Baltic countries. An independence that was lost in 1940. More than 2 million people stood holding hands and sang songs along the Baltic way, a road connecting the three Baltic capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.

What happened?

Between the two world wars the Baltic countries were independent states. In 1939 the German and Soviet foreign ministers von Ribbentrop and Molotov concluded a treaty of non-aggression between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The pact included secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence between themselves. This resulted in the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States in 1940.

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union had always denied the existence of the secret protocols. From 1985 on Mikhail Gorbatsjov initiated his policies of glasnost and perestroika (“reconstruction” and”openness” or transparency) . A commission of investigation was installed. In 1989 the commission concluded that the protocol had existed. Both successor-states of the Treaty, Germany and the Soviet Union declared the protocols to be invalid from the moment they were signed.

Within a year of the protests on the Baltic way the three states regained their independence in 1991.

In 2009, the European parliament proclaimed 23 August, the anniversary of the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact, as European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.